Chapter 12 – Developing New Products Marketing 5th
Answers To End Of Chapter Learning Aids
Marketing Applications
1 Some people think that a product should be considered “new” only if it is completely
new to the market and has never existed before. Describe or give examples of other
types of new products.
Students must challenge the mindset of “new means completely new” and think about
how marketers perceive the concept of product newness. Therefore, they might consider
2 Android Wear is a new category of wearable computing devices that link to android
smartphones. How quickly do you think this product will diffuse among the U.S.
population? Describe the types of people that you expect will be in each of the
diffusion of innovation stages.
The new wearables have some impediments to overcome to be successful. Some experts
do not see them as “radical” innovations. They may be seen as “incremental”
innovations that only improve current technologies.
3 What are the advantages and disadvantages for companies that are the first to
introduce products that create new markets?
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Chapter 12 – Developing New Products Marketing 5th
4 Identify and describe the ways that companies generate new product ideas. Which of
these ways involve the customer? How can firms assess the value of the ideas that
customers generate?
Rather than considering the idea-generation process solely from an internal company
perspective, students should understand that good ideas can come from many sources.
5 Describe an example of a new product or service that is targeted at the college student
market. Using the concept testing discussion in the chapter, describe how you would
conduct a concept test for this product or service.
Picking up where the previous question left off, this exercise challenges students to
consider how they might perform concept testing of a product aimed at them. In
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Chapter 12 – Developing New Products Marketing 5th
6 Using the same product or service you used In question 5, use the diffusion of
innovation theory, to assess how quickly it will diffuse based on its relative
advantage, compatibility, observability, complexity, and trialability.
The Toyota Yaris is an inexpensive, entry-level subcompact automobile. The Yaris’
predecessor was the oddly proportioned Echo. All of the following will lead to quicker
diffusion of the auto.
7 How does the Internet help companies gain customer input on their existing and new
products?
Listening to the customer in both B2B and B2C markets is essential for successful idea
generation. The Internet provides another channel for customers to use. Companies
8 Nature’s Path is about to introduce a type of granola and is in the market testing phase
of the new product development process. Describe two ways that Nature’s Path might
conduct initial market testing prior to launching this new product.
Firms conduct premarket tests before they actually bring a product or service to market
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Chapter 12 – Developing New Products Marketing 5th
9 As a brand manager at Kimberly Clark, you are responsible for marketing its newest
Huggies slip on diaper. How would slotting allowances and trade promotions help
promote your product?
A slotting allowance is a fee that firms pay to retailers to get new products into stores or
to gain more or better shelf space for their products. The diaper industry is very
10 In what stage of the product life cycle is a new model of a PlayStation 4 video game
console? Is Sony’s marketing strategy—its four Ps—consistent with the product’s
stage in its life cycle? Explain.
A new model of a the PlayStation video game in the introduction stage of the product life
cycle, because only innovators purchase it in the beginning, before it gains wider
11 You have recently been hired by a cosmetics company in the product development
group. The firm’s brand is a top-selling, high-end line of cosmetics. The head of the
development team has just presented research that shows that “tween” girls, aged 11
to 15, are very interested in cosmetics and have the money to spend. The decision is
made to create a line of tween cosmetics based on the existing adult line. As the
product moves through development you begin to notice that the team seems to lean
toward a very edgy and sexual theme for the line, including naming the various lines
“envy,” “desire,” “prowess,” and “fatal attraction.” You begin to wonder, is this
concept too much for girls in the targeted age group?
Students’ answers to this question may vary. This question asks students to think about
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Chapter 12 – Developing New Products Marketing 5th
Net Savvy
1 Go to http://www.quirky.com/ and read about how Quirky develops new products.
How is this different than traditional new product development?
Quirky is a crowd-sourcing invention company that builds, markets, and sells devices
that have been proposed and worked on by its hundreds of thousands of members. The
Source: Raymond, Chris “How Quirky Turns Ideas Into Inventions,” Popular Mechanics, January 7, 2014
12 The automotive industry is constantly adding new and different products and
technologies to their cars – both above and under the hood. Conduct an Internet or
library database search and discuss two innovative new automotive technologies that
are changing the industry
Students must fit innovations developed for the automobile industry to the product life
cycle model.
Chapter Case Study: Is the Glass Half Full? The Launch of Google Glass
1 At what stage of its product life cycle is Google Glass?
Google Glass is in the introduction stage of the PLC. Some new-to-the-world products
13 What was the go-to-market strategy for Google Glass, and how successful has it been
thus far?
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Chapter 12 – Developing New Products Marketing 5th
14 How is the product diffusing? At what stage is it in the diffusion curve? Explain your
answer.
Google Glass is dealing with the innovator customers of the Diffusion of Innovation
15 Using the diffusion of innovation theory, assess how quickly Google Glass will
diffuse based on its relative advantage, compatibility, observability, complexity, and
trialability.
Relative Advantage – The challenge that Google will face would be what product the
glasses should be valued against. Are they a device replacement or are they to
Additional Teaching Tips
This chapter focuses on the ways that a firm can create value through innovation.
Students learn about the product life cycle, the importance of product differentiation, as
well as concepts unique to new product development and launch.
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Chapter 12 – Developing New Products Marketing 5th
The way to truly understand new product development is to have students actually work
in teams to create a new product. Students can work in teams of 5 to brainstorm and
come up with ideas of new products. Instructors need to put some boundaries on the
assignment such as it can’t be too farfetched (such as self-driving automobiles) and the
product has to have enough differentiation (not just an added ingredient to an energy
bar). If students get stumped, suggest to students that they think of current products and
then to think of a way to make it better or to solve a problem (such as unbreakable
holiday lights or lights where the bulb never burns out). Then have students make an
illustration of the product and address the phases of the new product development.
Students can then present their findings to the class.
Another way to get students involved is to have them research organizations to discover
how new products were made. 3M Post Its were made by mistake when a glue did not
bond. An employee used it to mark pages in a hymnal so he wouldn’t lose the page and it
could be easily removed without damage. Have students share their findings with the
class. Online tip: This same assignment can take the form of a posting in which
students present their findings via the discussion board in the online forum. Students can
then respond to other learners by commenting on their “new product” and making
suggestions.
The key to student comprehension of new product design is to actually involve the
student in new product development to use their critical thinking skills to think about
each of the phases of new product development as well as the elements of the marketing
mix to bring the product to market. Instructors may want to assign new product
development as part of a Marketing Plan where students need to develop a new product
and incorporate all elements of the marketing plan for a cumulative course project. Of
course, new product development phases would be addressed as part of the plan.
Remember to review the Newsletter for Instructors and its accompanied PowerPoint
presentation, which integrates examples and discussion from the newsletter. Each
newsletter contains over ten article abstracts on hot topics, plus a selection of current
commercials and videos for you to use with your class. The newsletter also includes a
guide that explains where the articles, commercials, and videos best fit in your Marketing
ourse.
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